US Silly Americans

It still shocks me that some people in America don’t “believe” in climate change. We are the only country in the world that still has debates about it. This is unfortunate on many levels, but it should show you that many people (not just Americans, but perhaps particularly us) are more concerned with economic and political gain rather than what is important to the human race as a whole.

We can see this reflected in the debate over health care, social security and various environmental and biodiversity issues.

This opinion article from The Economist is an amusing way to think about the climate change debate:

For me, I just view it as ignorance – both unintentional and intentional. Some people really just don’t know about it. They have no idea about the scientific evidence. Some people choose to only read or hear what they want to, or have vested interest in the side of the argument that thinks it’s a ‘hoax’. Many people don’t acknowledge things unless it directly affects them. We American’s don’t live in natural environments, we don’t interact very much with the Earth/nature – at least not so much that we notice changes. But people all around the world who live in sensitive areas, or have strong ties with nature, certainly notice big changes. It’s not just ‘scientific fact’ (which naturally can be incorrect at times). It’s real evidence. Real proof. Real fact.

In terms of technology – of course we are capable of creating the technology to drastically reduce or eliminate our dependence on fossil fuel. But why do you think we don’t go for it? Economic and political reasons. Too much money is at stake (the trick here, is to make renewable energy just as profitable as non-renewables). Why is China (and Google) going to rule the world soon? Because they are looking ahead and they are investing in solar panels and wind power and generating this stuff at a cheap price. Perhaps their intentions are also make money (they surely have their share of pollution issues), but they are smart enough to see where the trend is headed, and accelerate it by being the leader in the industry (if I had money I would seriously invest in Google – they are doing some crazy stuff with energy). The point being, we could be doing that here, in the US. Creating jobs, money, leadership and hell – doing the RIGHT THING!

Otherwise, we will soon all be saying, “Hail Choogle!” (or maybe Ghina?)

Whatever the situation, it depresses me in terms of the future of the human race, and how un-advanced we are when it comes to humanitarian and environmental issues and choosing to do what is right. If you live life with a very narrow and short-term view, you are setting your children and descendents up for disaster. Selfish, if you ask me.

Perhaps we should encourage the idea of reincarnation? Then people will think that they themselves will be affected by the future of our planet?

America has a lot of potential- but lately we are busy playing games and focusing on the wrong things. We are busy putting down a president who actually wants to make things better- making it nearly impossible for his administration to get anything done at all. We are busy pursuing short term economic gains and fighting pointless wars instead of being more cooperative and open to suggestion. That’s not to say the rest of the world is on the straight and narrow, but we can’t continue with our superiority complex if we are to be relevant on the world stage in the next 50 years.